A fantastic World Championship
match ended on Tuesday in Sofia with the titleholder Viswanathan Anand
disappointing the local fans, winning the twelfth and final game against
Veselin Topalov.

The match, which finished 6.5-5.5
in Anand's favour, could have swung either way - "No one would
have been surprised to see either of us win the match," said Anand.

The2m Euro title contest had
been deadlocked since Topalov's win of game eight.

Anand missed plenty of opportunities
in game 9, Topalov repeated the favour in the next two games.

Then came the decisive and
dramatic final game which might have been won and lost by ...superstition!

Yes, superstition. As I mentioned
in the last blog, chessplayers are generally not superstitious but Topalov
admitted after Tuesday's loss that he had avoided a repetition draw
on move 26 because he was afraid of going to the rapid tiebreaks.

Not because Anand is one of
the great rapid players of all time, but because the tiebreakers were
to be played on Thursday the 13th. And the 13th
was the same day that he had lost his rapid tiebreakers against Kramnik
in 2006.

So Topalov pushed on looking
for a win and was punished by a powerful Anand attack.

This was the first win for
Black in the match and it came at a time when Anand might have been
expected to be on the ropes.

However the Indian has shown
extraordinary mental toughness in this match and he took his chance.

By the time Topalov resigned,
many of the Bulgarian fans - who had come out in good numbers to watch
the decisive game had wandered away from the playing hall.

Topalov's concession was
greeted by modest applause and a shout of ‘Ja!' from Anand's fixer
(and the organiser of the giant Mainz tournament) Hans-Walter Schmitt.

Topalov congratulated Anand
and then started discussing his miscalculation which had cost him the
game and the match. ("These were virtually the first words we
had exchanged since the match began," Anand admitted.)

At the post-game press conference
Anand was generous to his opponent and clearly relieved to have survived
such a tough contest.

"My opponent is a fantastic
fighter. Either of us could have won this match. This was by far the
most intense match I have ever played," a relieved Anand said after
the decisive game. "When I woke up this morning I thought that this
could be the saddest day of my life or the happiest. I have almost no
experience in a World Championship match where every result is possible
on the final game. I was not unhappy that it would be over soon."

At the press conference, Anand's
seconds turned up at the Sofia Military Club for the first time. The
team turned out to be identical to the four who had helped Anand beat
Kramnik two years earlier - Nielsen, Kasimdzhanov, Ganguly and Wojtazsek.

Topalov was understandably
quiet at the press conference; apart from most of the questions being
directed at Anand it didn't help that a few times when the Bulgarian
opened his mouth a clap of thunder drowned him out.

Anand will keep the world title
until 2012 when the World Championship match will be held in London.
Magnus Carlsen is the obvious new challenger for Anand but don't write
off Topalov. He has twice narrowly out on the match title and at 35
is still young enough and with enough fire in his belly to work his
way through the Candidates matches and perhaps provide another epic
world title fight. Though Sofia 2010 will be hard to beat.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4
e6 3.Nc3
No Catalan today - Anand
goes for a more meaty Nimzo-Indian.3...Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5
6.Nf3 d5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.exd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Re1 Nbd7 12.Rc1
Rc8 13.Bd3
"This is the variation
which gave me victory in my World Championship match against Kasparov,"
said Kramnik, "though I had chosen 13.Qb3 which is now said to
be analysed to a forced draw(!). Ten years ago computers weren't as
powerful..."13...Re8 14.Qe2 Bxc3 15.bxc3
Qc7 16.Bh4
16.h3 has a better reputation,
but Anand has a new manoeuvre in mind.16...Nh5! 17.Ng5 g6
18.Nh3!? e5 19.f3 Qd6
Delaying the exchange on d4
until White has placed his bishop a little more passively.20.Bf2 exd4!?
21.Qxe8+ Rxe8 22.Rxe8+ Nf8 23.cxd4 Nf6 24.Ree1 Ne6
Here Topalov's seconds entered
the press room and were not entirely happy. Dutch GM Jan Smeets suggested
that 25.Bc4 was strong just moments before the monitor showed...25.Bc4 Bd5 26.Bg3 Qb4!?
27.Be5 Nd7! 28.a3! Qa4
28...Qb2! 29.Bxd5 Nxe5 30.Bxe6
Nd3! should be fine for Black.29.Bxd5 Nxe5 30.Bxe6 Qxd4+?
An easy mistake to make, but
30...Nd3 was stronger.31.Kh1 fxe6 32.Ng5!
Qd6 33.Ne4
The computer programs - and
the humans kibitzing with them - were crying out for 33.Rc8+ Kg7 34.Rec1
which apparently leads to a mating attack 10 moves hence!33...Qxa3
34.Rc3 Qb2 35.h4 b5 36.Rc8+ Kg7 37.Rc7+ Kf8 38.Ng5 Ke8 39.Rxh7 Qc3 40.Rh8+?
This was the one missed win
in this game that Anand was not happy about. With just three minutes
left to reach the first time control, Anand panics and lets the Black
king out of his cage. After 40.Re4 b4 41.Rxa7 b3 42.Rb7 b2 43.Kh2! White
can stop the Black pawn and win the game. 40...Kd7 41.Rh7+ Kc6 42.Re4
b4!?
More risk taking by Topalov.
42...Kb6 was safer.43.Nxe6! Kb6 44.Nf4 Qa1+?
45.Kh2 a5 46.h5!! gxh5
Too late Topalov realises that
after the pawn race 46...b3 47.hxg6 b2 48.g7 b1(Q) 49.g(Q), Black can
have two queens but he still loses after 49...Nxf3+ 50.Kg3!!.47.Rxh5 Nc6 48.Nd5+ Kb7
49.Rh7+ Ka6 50.Re6 Kb5 51.Rh5 Nd4 52.Nb6+ Ka6 53.Rd6 Kb7 54.Nc4?!
Forcing Black to sacrifice
his knight immediately, but 54.Nd5! was stronger. However the win after
54...Nd8 is tricky so Anand's desire to have a knight in the hand
is understandable.54...Nxf3+! 55.gxf3 Qa2+
56.Nd2 Kc7! 57.Rhd5 b3?! 58.Rd7+ Kc8 59.Rd8+ Kc7 60.R8d7+ Kc8 61.Rg7!
a4 62.Rc5+?
Anand used seven of his last
14 minutes on this move, unable, unwilling or simply too tired to risk
62.Rdd7! Qc2 63.Kg3! Qc6 64.Rdf7! when White's rooks will win the
game.62...Kb8 63.Rd5 Kc8 64.Kg3?
Another chance to play 64.Rdd7!
goes begging and Topalov is in no mood to give Anand any more opportunities.64...Qa1! 65.Rg4 b2 66.Rc4+
Kb7 67.Kf2 b1(Q) 68.Nxb1 Qxb1 69.Rdd4 Qa2+ 70.Kg3 a3 71.Rc3 Qa1 72.Rb4+
Ka6 73.Ra4+ Kb5 74.Rcxa3 Qg1+
Now Anand cannot escape the
checks and a draw is inevitable.75.Kf4 Qc1+ 76.Kf5 Qc5+
77.Ke4 Qc2+ 78.Ke3 Qc1+ 79.Kf2 Qd2+ 80.Kg3 Qe1+ 81.Kf4 Qc1+ 82.Kg3 Qg1+
83.Kf4 Draw Agreed

Sofia World ChampionshipGame 10White: V.TopalovBlack: V.Anand

After ‘risking' the Grunfeld
for a second time, Anand had emerged well from the opening but now lets
his guard down...24...Nc6?!
"A bit careless,"
admitted Anand. 25.Ba6!! Nd4?!
Heading for an unpleasant but
probably defensible endgame. Suffering a little less from shock, Anand
might have calculated his way through 25...Bxa6! 26.Qxc6 Qa1+ 27.Kh2
Be5+ 28.Bf4 Bxf4+ 29.Nxf4 Qe5! when Black can hold.26.Qc4! Bxd5 27.Qxd5+ Qxd5
28.exd5 Be5 29.Kf2 Kf7 30.Bg5 Nf5 31.g4 Nd6
The rest of the game saw Anand
changing blockaders on d6 but always holding firm.

Despite missing a slightly
better chance on move 44, Topalov never seemed to be able to make serious
progress and the game was drawn on move 60 following Anand's first
direct proposal of a draw since the game 5 farce.

Sofia World ChampionshipGame 11White: V.AnandBlack: V.Topalov

The position is unpleasant
for White, who must constantly defend his b pawn, so Anand decided to
gamble on activity...46.g4!? Nd6?
Played almost instantly by
Topalov but 46...Ne7! would have won a pawn, e.g. 47.Kg3?! Nd5 48.f5
Ne3. Anand could defend better with 47.Rd2 but chances would have been
good that Topalov would win the game and almost certainly the world
title.47.Kg3 Ne4+ 48.Kh4 Nd6 49.Rd2!!??
99 players out of 100 would
have played the sensible 49.Kg3 and hoped that Topalov would repeat
moves but Anand was willing to take more risks since "I didn't want
to [stay] just clinging on and I didn't see anything wrong with this."49...Nxb5 50.f5 Re4?!
Now Anand gets the attack he
was looking for. Both 50...Rf4 and 50...Ra3 would probably have led
to rook endgames where only Topalov has chances, though presumably Anand
believed he could hold.51.Kh5!
Re3 52.Nh4 Nc3 53.Rd7+ Re7 54.Rd3 Ne4
55.Ng6 Nc5 56.Ra3 Rd7 57.Re3 Kg7 58.g5
b5 59.Nf4 b4 60.g6 b3 61.Rc3
"I briefly got a little
excited about 61.Re8 but it was also not enough," said Anand.61...Rd4
Of course 61...b2?? 62.Rxc5
b1(Q) 63.Ne6+ leads to mate but "he can even play 61...Rc7 62.Nd3
Ne6 63.Rxb3 Nd4 64.Nf4 and it's still a draw," Anand explained.62.Rxc5 Rxf4 63.Rc7+ Kg8
64.Rb7
One last cheap trick, but Topalov
is not about to get too greedy now.64...Rf3 65.Rb8+ Kg7 Draw
Agreed
Anand offered the draw and
Topalov did not even bother to call for the arbiter before extending
his hand.

Topalov finally conceded the
inevitable and the world title stayed with Anand.
See Rogers' previous in-depth analysis of the World Championsh, GM Rogers on Sofia: Topalov Strikes Back, with annotations of games 4 through 8 and Anand on Top So Far in Sofia after four rounds. Also look for GM Ian Rogers Chess Life Magazine story in the July issue.